Content recommendation system

ABSTRACT

A method of setting controls on a digital communication device operated by an end user participant in a digital content event provided from a digital communication network includes operating a tracking control in the digital communication network to track activity of the digital communication device in a context of the digital content event; operating a timer in conjunction with the activity to form a time-stamped set of ranking controls; attenuating the time-stamped set of ranking controls according to an elapsed time; applying the time-stamped set of ranking controls and content inputs from a digital content manager to operate a ranking control and digital filter to generate a control interface for the digital communication device, the control interface comprising a plurality of individually operable controls; and configuring the digital communication device with the control interface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority and benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119 to U.S.application Ser. No. 62/062,760, filed on Oct. 10, 2014 and incorporatedby reference in its entirety herein.

BACKGROUND

In a content-rich world, consumers (i.e., end users) are overwhelmed bythe viewing choices available to them on TV, Video on Demand, theInternet, mobile, etc. This rapidly becomes an irritating experience as,each time, they click through channel-after-channel on the TV listingsor wander through the VOD library. The result—consumers stick towatching what they already know, and after a while begin to questionwhether they are getting value for their subscription money. In thissituation customer retention becomes a problem. The fact is consumerscannot select what they don't know—so ‘Search’ alone is the wrongapproach to a constantly changing Electronic Program Guide or large VODlibrary.

It is valuable to expose consumers to a wider range of content than theywould normally discover for themselves. Where the consumer explicitlydeclares a wide range of tastes this is relatively simple to achieve,but in many cases the consumer may be cautious or lazy and will declarea narrow range of tastes or even none. For instance, they may oftenstart by declaring only gender, age and perhaps one taste area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, themost significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to thefigure number in which that element is first introduced.

FIG. 1 illustrates aspects of a system for configuring a controlinterface for a communication device 100 in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a machine control interface configuration process 200in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a machine control interface configuration process 300in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a machine control interface configuration process 400in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a machine feedback circuit 500 in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a machine feedback circuit 500 in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system to configure a personal video recorder 700in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a video server control configuration process 800 inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a machine feedback circuit 900 in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an aspect of the subject matter in accordance withone embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates a video server and end user device control system1100 in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method for operating a video server andconfiguring a control interface on a user device 1200 in accordance withone embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates a video server and end user device control system1300 in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates a video server and end user device control process1400 in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates a machine 1500 in accordance with one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Description

Described herein are embodiments of systems and processes that may beutilized to recommend digital content to users of a networked contentstorage and delivery system, such as provided by cable television orInternet video/audio web sites. In some embodiments, a one or morecomputing apparatus embodying these systems and processes may operate atracking control in a digital communication network to track activity ofdigital communication device (i.e. end user devices) in a context of adigital content event. A timer may be operated in conjunction with theactivity to form a time-stamped set of ranking controls. Thetime-stamped set of ranking controls may be attenuated according to anelapsed time. The time-stamped set of ranking controls and contentinputs from a digital content manager may be applied to operate aranking control and digital filter to generate a control interface forthe digital communication device. The control interface may include agroup of individually operable controls. The digital communicationdevice may be configured with the control interface. The group ofindividually operable controls each operable to cause a video server tostream a different digital video to the digital communication device.

The tracking control may be operated on a digital personal videorecorder associated with the digital communication device. A sub-streamfilter may be operated on the digital content event to generate anextracted digital sub-stream. A text-to-speech converter may be operatedon the extracted digital sub-stream to generate a digital text sequence.The digital text sequence may be applied to adapt the time-stamped setof ranking controls into adapted ranking controls.

In some embodiments, the extracted digital sub-stream is a voice-overaudio track for a video animation. An effect of the digital textsequence on the adapted ranking controls may be attenuated to lower thanan effect on the adapted ranking controls by a non-voice-over audiotrack.

The digital content event may be correlated to serial content based on athreshold level of the serial content represented in the time-stampedset of ranking controls. Gaps in the activity associated with the serialcontent represented in the time-stamped set of ranking controls may bedetected, and the control interface adapted with controls correspondingto the gaps.

In one implementation, the system prioritizes new learning as to userpreferences for content over old learning of the user preferences. Tothis end, a preference formulator may engage with a ranking module toweight more heavily or rank higher learnings from a learned preferencedatabase having a more recent timestamp. In support of this feature,search and viewing activity logged to an activity history database bythe tracking module may by timestamped. Learned preference updates tothe learned preference database from the preference formulator may beweighted by their newness, then aged (weights reduced) over time.

Search activity by a user may be tracked and applied to formulatepreference learning. In one embodiment, queries from a user device (settop box STB, mobile phone, personal computer, tablet device, etc.) arecommunicated to a search logic (e.g., tracking controller, which mayinterface with one or more commercial search engines, not illustrated).In addition to engaging a search of the (one or more) content databasefor titles matching the query, the search module may also notify thetracking logic of the search activity. The tracking logic may log thesearch activity (associated with a user identifier and also possiblytimestamped) in an activity history database for later application topreference formulation. A learned preference database may in someembodiments comprise user profiles, and thus a user's search activitymay be applied to learn and formulate a user profile. Contentrecommendations for a particular user may also be learned in someimplementations from search and viewing activity of other users having athreshold level of common characteristics. The recommendations for theother users may be referred to herein as “related contentrecommendations”.

In one embodiment a filter may be utilized to limit the results ofsearch queries and/or recommended content titles to only those titlesthat have either (1) been viewed by the user before (and thus arerecorded in the activity history for the user), or (2) are “favorites”of the user making the query. Favorites may be identified in a number ofways. For example, favorites may be identified as those titles that aremost frequently watched and/or searched (e.g., the activity type“viewed” or “searched” has a value above some set threshold); favoritesmay be identified as those titles viewed and/or searched most recentlyas indicated by the activity timestamp; favorites may be identified asthose titles having a highest associated activity level, meaning a totalnumber of activity types (including interaction/engagement with a titlebeing viewed); favorites may be identified from combinations of thesefactors, such as frequency of activity/search and also recentness ofactivity/search. In one embodiment, search results and/orrecommendations reflect only content available on certain channelsidentified as user favorites, or are ranked more highly if they are on afavorite channel (e.g., ShowTime, HBO, ScyFi). Favorite channels may beidentified by activity levels (positive activity) above a set thresholdlevel for content from a same channel.

The system may recommend to a user other system users to share a contentexperience, i.e. to “watch with”. See FIG. 8-11. Activity from multipleuser devices 810, 812 is tracked and formed into updates to an activityhistory database 806 for the users. A user matching module 808 comparesuser profiles and forms matching sets based on aggregate similarities inactivity or user preferences (e.g., similar user profiles).Recommendations are then provided to the users in similar sets, so thatthe users are aware of upcoming opportunities to view/interact withcontent that other like-minded viewers will be watching. The user'ssearch activity may also influence the watch-with recommendations, as itmay affect the user's profile (see learned preference database 108 andpreference formulator 104).

The system may search or recommend content to and from a personal videorecorder (either on-premise or a network PVR). Various interactingsub-components may be utilized to formulate digital contentrecommendations for consumers of network-hosted content (therecommendations possibly ranked and filtered as well).

The system may supply recommendation(s) to the video server, whichobtains the recommended title(s) from a content management system andstreams (or downloads) the title to the personal video recorder (whichmay be on user premise or network hosted). The user then later views thecontent of the title from the PVR using their user device. In anotherembodiment, content detected on the PVR may be identified and providedto the system for influencing future recommendations (it may be detectedas a form of user activity involving the content). Fast forward, rewind,and other PVR behaviors may be identified as specific activity typesinfluencing preference formation. (e.g., rewind and replay isreinforcing of a preference for the reviewed content; fast forwardindicates a distaste for the skipped or skimmed content).

The system may attenuate the importance of voice-overs in animatedcontent when forming content recommendations. Voice-over content (audio)may be filtered from the digital video stream (e.g., animation with avoice-over actor). The extracted voice-over (speech) may be converted totext symbols (words, phrases, sentences, etc.) and this text may then beanalyzed for information about the subject matter of the overall content(e.g., the underlying animation), which in turn may be correlated intime with user activity directed at/for the overall content. However, ifthe underlying content is animation (or other narrated scenes in avideo, for example), the system may give less weight to the voice-overcontent when forming recommendations than to the spoken words of humanactors.

The system may recommend content that belongs to a content series. Inone embodiment, viewing and/or search activity is recorded in a useractivity database. This activity (mostly or all viewing activity, in oneembodiment) is analyzed by a content series detector. If a level ofactivity by a user (or group, such as a family in a same household)involving episodes of a content series (television series, mini-series,multi-part feature, etc.) exceeds a set threshold, the system mayidentify the content series and recommend any gaps in the activity(missed episodes, or upcoming episodes, for example) to the user device.These gaps (missed episodes or upcoming next episodes in the series) maybe ranked highly in recommendations or returned search results (a “don'tmiss this episode” functionality). In some implementations, the systemmay recommend an entire content series to the user, based on activityinvolving a single or few episodes of the series, or based on activityby the user involving content characteristic of the series as a whole(vs particular episodes). The system may prioritize (rank highly orhighest in a list of recommendations or search results) a next to bereleased episode in a series. In some cases, this high ranking onlytakes place when there is a threshold level of user activity already forthe series. In other cases, the high ranking is made for a next episodeof the series in particular, when the series itself is recommended forany reason.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates aspects of a system for configuring a controlinterface for a communication device 100 in accordance with oneembodiment.

The system for configuring a control interface for a communicationdevice 100 comprises a rank controller 102, ranking controls 104,ranking logic 106, filter 108, tablet or phone 110, personal computer112, end user devices 114, set top box 116, video server 118, trackinglogic 120, activity record database 122, adapted user rank controls 124,tracking control 126, content manager 128, and machine interfacecontrols 130.

At block 202 the video server 118 receives a video on demand (VOD)request signal from one or more end user devices 114. The video server118 activates the tracking logic 120 at block 204 to begin trackingactivity by and from the end user devices 114, such as length ofviewing, pauses, searches, selections (e.g., of ads or othersupplemental content), fast forward, rewind, and so on.

Digital video content is streamed to the end user devices 114 by thevideo server 118 at block 206. Activity is tracked (block 208) andlogged on a machine record (block 210).

The end user devices 114 query the tracking control 126 (block 302)which activates the tracking logic 120 (block 304) to record the query,and which operates the content manager 128 to obtain settings (e.g.,comprising content titles) matching the query. These settings may becommunicated to the end user devices 114, which may then activate a VODstream from the video server 118.

The tracking control 126 is configured by the results from the contentmanager 128 (block 308) and the tracking logic 120 to detect and log inthe activity record database 122 activity of the end user devices 114 onthe video stream (block 310). The tracking control 126 co-operates atimer 132 to time-stamp activity by the end user devices 114. The timer132 may also be applied to an attenuator 134 that operates on controlsin the activity record database 122 to attenuate the effect of thecontrols on the rank controller 102 over time (e.g., to ‘decay’ theeffects of older activities on the rank controller 102).

The rank controller 102 forms ranking controls 104 based on the user'sactivity as recorded in the activity record database 122 and furtheraccording to the adapted user rank controls 124 formulated over timebased on, for example, similar activity by other users (see laterDrawings for more detail).

The tracking logic 120 is responsive to the ranking controls 104 andconfiguration information about content titles obtained from the contentmanager 128 to generate machine interface controls 130 that are passedthrough a filter 108 and then applied to the end user devices 114 (block312). The machine interface controls 130 may comprise, in oneembodiment, an ordered arrangement of active areas on a machine display,each particular area of the active areas configured to cause activationof streaming by the video server 118 of a particular video stream whenthe particular active area is operated by one or more of the end userdevices 114.

User activity on the end user devices 114 is logged (block 402) and thisactivity is applied to form user-specific settings for the rankcontroller 102 (block 404). The rank controller 102 is configured (block406) and operated to generate machine interface controls 130 for the enduser devices 114 (block 408). The end user devices 114 are configuredwith the machine interface controls 130 (block 410).

FIG. 5 illustrates a machine feedback circuit 500 in accordance with oneembodiment. The machine feedback circuit 500 comprises a video server118, adapted user rank controls 124, control correlator 504, and set topbox 116. The set top box 116 is representative of the end user devices114 and could be any suitable device of this type.

User activity with the set top box 116 is communicated via the videoserver 118 to the tracking logic 120 (other embodiments may not utilizethe video server 118 to intermediate this communication). The trackinglogic 120 influences the rank controller 102, which accesses controlsettings stored by the adapted user rank controls 124. The adapted userrank controls 124 are adapted and changed over time by a controlcorrelator 504.

The rank controller 102 operates ranking logic 106 to generate machineinterface controls 130 which are applied through a filter 108 to the settop box 116.

Thus for example a video on demand request may be received from one ormore of the end user devices 114 (block 602) and digital video isstreamed to the one or more end user devices 114 by the video server 118in response (block 604). activity by the one or more end user devices114 is tracked (block 606) and the adapted user rank controls 124 arechanged (e.g., updated, block 608). The adapted user rank controls 124are matched with the user rank controls of other users having anactivity history (e.g., behavior and preferences for certain types ofvideo content) that strongly correlate with the user ranking controls104, and the ranking controls 104 may be set or changed to reflect thiscorrelation (block 610). The end user devices 114 are then set (block612) and operated (block 614) according to machine interface controls130 formed by the ranking logic 106 and filter 108 as configured by theranking controls 104.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system to configure a personal video recorder 700in accordance with one embodiment. User activity with a tablet or phone110, or a remote control 702 (for example) that affects a personal videorecorder 710 may be tracked and utilized to adapt the video servercontrol settings 708 applied by a server controller 706 to the videoserver 118. For example video content from the content manager 128stored in the memory of the personal video recorder 710 may be appliedas configuration information to affect the video server control settings708.

The adapted user rank controls 124 are applied to the video server 118(block 802), causing the video server 118 to retrieve video content fromthe content manager 128 (block 804) and communicate the video content tothe personal video recorder 710 (block 806). From the personal videorecorder 710, the content is streamed to the end user devices 114 (block808).

activity by the personal video recorder 710 as controlled by the enduser devices 114 or remote control 702 is tracked (block 810), and thisactivity is applied to adapt the adapted user rank controls 124 (block812), which are applied to control operation of the video server 118(block 814).

FIG. 9 illustrates a machine feedback circuit 900 in accordance with oneembodiment. The machine feedback circuit 900 comprises a personalcomputer 112 (or other end user device), a video server 118, trackinglogic 120, a sub-stream filter 906, speech-to-text conversion logic 908,level setting logic 910, and a server controller 706 configured withvideo server control settings 708.

The video server 118 streams video (block 1002) to the personal computer112, for example in response to a VOD request from the personal computer112. The video stream 902 is also communicated to the sub-stream filter906, which extract a voice over sub-stream 904 from the video stream 902(block 1004). The voice over sub-stream 904 is input to thespeech-to-text conversion logic 908 and there converted to a textsequence (block 1006). The level setting logic 910 sets levels onsub-sequences of the text sequence, e.g., particular words and phrasesare attenuated in control status (block 1008), and the text sequence isapplied to adapt the video server control settings 708 of the servercontroller 706 (block 1010), which then controls the operation of thevideo server 118 to form the machine control interface configurationprocess 300 (block 1012) that is applied to the personal computer 112(block 1014).

FIG. 11 illustrates a video server and end user device control system1100 in accordance with one embodiment.

Sensors of the end user devices 114 are operated to generate a user orgroup (e.g., family or home) identification (block 1202). Examples ofsensors are fingerprint scanner 1106, microphone 1108, camera 1110, andwireless device detector 1112 (e.g., WiFi SSID detector). The end useror group id is applied to control the activity record database 122(block 1204), which comprises user configuration controls 1102 and groupconfiguration controls 1104. These controls are applied to affect theserver controller 706 by adapting the video server control settings 708(block 1206). The video server 118 is operated according to the videoserver control settings 708 (block 1208).

The user configuration controls 1102 and group configuration controls1104 are also applied to the rank controller 102 to affect operation ofthe tracking logic 120 and the filter 108 to generate the machineinterface controls 130 (block 1210). These are communicated to the enduser devices 114 (block 1212) and applied to operate the end userdevices 114 (block 1214).

FIG. 13 illustrates a video server and end user device control system1300 in accordance with one embodiment.

A VOD request (for example) is received by the video server 118 (block1402) which streams video to the end user devices 114 (block 1404). Useractivity with the end user devices 114 is tracked (block 1406—seeprevious Drawings). The system receives a content query (block 1408) andexecutes and tracks (e.g., records in the activity record database 122)the query (block 1410).

A test (block 1412) is performed (e.g., by the content series detector1302) for a threshold activity level on the video stream and a set ofassociated content (e.g., files forming episodes of a content series).If the threshold is met, the series content is correlated with the videostream and/or end user (block 1414), and gaps in the activity recorddatabase 122 are identified for the series content and the end userdevices 114 or end user or group (block 1416). These gaps are applied toadapt the video server control settings 708 (block 1418). The videoserver 118 is controlled with the adapted video server control settings708 and the machine interface controls 130 are adapted to providecontrols for activation of content in the gap from the video server 118when operated (block 1420).

FIG. 15 illustrates several components of an exemplary machine 1500 inaccordance with one embodiment. In various embodiments, machine 1500 mayinclude a desktop PC, server, workstation, mobile phone, laptop, tablet,set-top box, appliance, or other computing device that is capable ofperforming operations such as those described herein. In someembodiments, machine 1500 may include many more components than thoseshown in FIG. 15. However, it is not necessary that all of thesegenerally conventional components be shown in order to disclose anillustrative embodiment. Collectively, the various tangible componentsor a subset of the tangible components may be referred to herein as“logic” configured or adapted in a particular way, for example as logicconfigured or adapted with particular software or firmware.

In various embodiments, machine 1500 may comprise one or more physicaland/or logical devices that collectively provide the functionalitiesdescribed herein. In some embodiments, machine 1500 may comprise one ormore replicated and/or distributed physical or logical devices.

In some embodiments, machine 1500 may comprise one or more computingresources provisioned from a “cloud computing” provider, for example,Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (“Amazon EC2”), provided by Amazon.com,Inc. of Seattle, Wash.; Sun Cloud Compute Utility, provided by SunMicrosystems, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; Windows Azure, provided byMicrosoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., and the like.

Machine 1500 includes a bus 1502 interconnecting several componentsincluding a network interface 1508, a display 1506, a central processingunit 1510, and a memory 1504.

Memory 1504 generally comprises a random access memory (“RAM”) andpermanent non-transitory mass storage device, such as a hard disk driveor solid-state drive. Memory 1504 stores an operating system 1512.

These and other software components may be loaded into memory 1504 ofmachine 1500 using a drive mechanism (not shown) associated with anon-transitory computer-readable medium 1516, such as a floppy disc,tape, DVD/CD-ROM drive, memory card, or the like.

Memory 1504 also includes database 1514. In some embodiments, server 200(deleted) may communicate with database 1514 via network interface 1508,a storage area network (“SAN”), a high-speed serial bus, and/or via theother suitable communication technology.

In some embodiments, database 1514 may comprise one or more storageresources provisioned from a “cloud storage” provider, for example,Amazon Simple Storage Service (“Amazon S3”), provided by Amazon.com,Inc. of Seattle, Wash., Google Cloud Storage, provided by Google, Inc.of Mountain View, Calif., and the like.

References to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” do not necessarilyrefer to the same embodiment, although they may. Unless the contextclearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims,the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed inan inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; thatis to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words usingthe singular or plural number also include the plural or singular numberrespectively, unless expressly limited to a single one or multiple ones.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. When theclaims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items,that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: anyof the items in the list, all of the items in the list and anycombination of the items in the list, unless expressly limited to one orthe other. “Logic” refers to machine memory circuits, non transitorymachine readable media, and/or circuitry which by way of its materialand/or material-energy configuration comprises control and/or proceduralsignals, and/or settings and values (such as resistance, impedance,capacitance, inductance, current/voltage ratings, etc.), that may beapplied to influence the operation of a device. Magnetic media,electronic circuits, electrical and optical memory (both volatile andnonvolatile), and firmware are examples of logic. Logic specificallyexcludes pure signals or software per se (however does not excludemachine memories comprising software and thereby forming configurationsof matter). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that logic may bedistributed throughout one or more devices, and/or may be comprised ofcombinations memory, media, processing circuits and controllers, othercircuits, and so on. Therefore, in the interest of clarity andcorrectness logic may not always be distinctly illustrated in drawingsof devices and systems, although it is inherently present therein. Thetechniques and procedures described herein may be implemented via logicdistributed in one or more computing devices. The particulardistribution and choice of logic will vary according to implementation.Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variouslogic implementations by which processes and/or systems described hereincan be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), and thatthe preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processesare deployed. “Software” refers to logic that may be readily readaptedto different purposes (e.g. read/write volatile or nonvolatile memory ormedia). “Firmware” refers to logic embodied as read-only memories and/ormedia. Hardware refers to logic embodied as analog and/or digitalcircuits. If an implementer determines that speed and accuracy areparamount, the implementer may opt for a hardware and/or firmwarevehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, the implementer mayopt for a solely software implementation; or, yet again alternatively,the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles by which theprocesses described herein may be effected, none of which is inherentlysuperior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choicedependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployed and thespecific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of theimplementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that optical aspects of implementations may involveoptically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware. The foregoingdetailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devicesand/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examplescontain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understoodas notorious by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. Several portions of thesubject matter described herein may be implemented via ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays(FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other integrated formats.However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects ofthe embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can beequivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits, as one or morecomputer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or moreprograms running on one or more computer systems), as one or moreprograms running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or moreprograms running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or asvirtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitryand/or writing the code for the software and/or firmware would be wellwithin the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure.In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that themechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that anillustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein appliesequally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media usedto actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearingmedia include, but are not limited to, the following: recordable typemedia such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digital tape,flash drives, SD cards, solid state fixed or removable storage, andcomputer memory. In a general sense, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the various aspects described herein which can beimplemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range ofhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof can be viewedas being composed of various types of “circuitry.” Consequently, as usedherein “circuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitryhaving at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitryhaving at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one application specific integrated circuit, circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of random access memory),and/or circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem,communications switch, or optical-electrical equipment).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use standard engineering practices to integrate suchdescribed devices and/or processes into larger systems. That is, atleast a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can beintegrated into a network processing system via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of setting controls on a digitalcommunication device operated by an end user participant in a digitalcontent event provided from a digital communication network, the methodcomprising: operating a tracking control in the digital communicationnetwork to track activity of the digital communication device in acontext of the digital content event; operating a timer in conjunctionwith the activity to form a time-stamped set of ranking controls;attenuating the time-stamped set of ranking controls according to anelapsed time; applying the time-stamped set of ranking controls andcontent inputs from a digital content manager to operate a rankingcontrol and digital filter to generate a control interface for thedigital communication device, the control interface comprising aplurality of individually operable controls; correlating the digitalcontent event to serial content comprising a plurality of episodes basedon a threshold viewing level over the plurality of episodes representedin the time-stamped set of ranking controls; detecting full-episode gapsin the activity associated with the serial content represented in thetime-stamped set of ranking controls; adapting the control interfacewith controls corresponding to the full-episode gaps; and configuringthe digital communication device with the control interface.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: correlating the time-stamped setof ranking controls with ranking controls of non-users of the digitalcommunication device to produce adapted ranking controls.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: operating the tracking control on adigital personal video recorder associated with the digitalcommunication device.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:operating a sub-stream filter on the digital content event to generatean extracted digital sub-stream; operating a speech-to-text converter onthe extracted digital sub-stream to generate a digital text sequence;and applying the digital text sequence to adapt the time-stamped set ofranking controls into adapted ranking controls.
 5. The method of claim4, further comprising: the extracted digital sub-stream is a voice-overaudio track for a video animation; and attenuating an effect of thedigital text sequence on the adapted ranking controls to lower than aneffect on the adapted ranking controls by a non-voice-over audio track.6. The method of claim 1, the plurality of individually operablecontrols each operable to cause a video server to stream a differentdigital video to the digital communication device.
 7. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage mediumincluding instructions that when executed by a device including aprocessor and memory, uniquely configure the memory and cause the deviceto: operate a tracking control in the digital communication network totrack activity of the digital communication device in a context of adigital content event; operate a timer in conjunction with the activityto form a time-stamped set of ranking controls; attenuate thetime-stamped set of ranking controls according to an elapsed time; applythe time-stamped set of ranking controls and content inputs from adigital content manager to operate a ranking control and digital filterto generate a control interface for the digital communication device,the control interface comprising a plurality of individually operablecontrols; correlating the digital content event to serial contentcomprising a plurality of episodes based on a threshold viewing levelover the plurality of episodes represented in the time-stamped set ofranking controls; detecting full-episode gaps in the activity associatedwith the serial content represented in the time-stamped set of rankingcontrols; and adapting the control interface with controls correspondingto the full-episode gaps.
 8. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 7, wherein the instructions further configure the computer to:correlate the time-stamped set of ranking controls with ranking controlsof non-users of the digital communication device to produce adaptedranking controls.
 9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7,wherein the instructions further configure the computer to: operate thetracking control on a digital personal video recorder associated withthe digital communication device.
 10. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further configure thecomputer to: operate a sub-stream filter on the digital content event togenerate an extracted digital sub-stream; operate a speech-to-textconverter on the extracted digital sub-stream to generate a digital textsequence; and apply the digital text sequence to adapt the time-stampedset of ranking controls into adapted ranking controls.
 11. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructionsfurther configure the computer to: the extracted digital sub-stream is avoice-over audio track for a video animation; and attenuate an effect ofthe digital text sequence on the adapted ranking controls to lower thanan effect on the adapted ranking controls by a non-voice-over audiotrack.
 12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, theplurality of individually operable controls each operable to cause avideo server to stream a different digital video to the digitalcommunication device.
 13. A computing apparatus, the computing apparatuscomprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, configure the apparatus to: operate atracking control in the digital communication network to track activityof the digital communication device in a context of a digital contentevent; operate a timer in conjunction with the activity to form atime-stamped set of ranking controls; attenuate the time-stamped set ofranking controls according to an elapsed time; apply the time-stampedset of ranking controls and content inputs from a digital contentmanager to operate a ranking control and digital filter to generate acontrol interface for the digital communication device, the controlinterface comprising a plurality of individually operable controls;correlating the digital content event to serial content comprising aplurality of episodes based on a threshold viewing level over theplurality of episodes represented in the time-stamped set of rankingcontrols; detecting full-episode gaps in the activity associated withthe serial content represented in the time-stamped set of rankingcontrols; and adapting the control interface with controls correspondingto the full-episode gaps.
 14. The computing apparatus of claim 13,wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to: operate thetracking control on a digital personal video recorder associated withthe digital communication device.
 15. The computing apparatus of claim13, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to: operatea sub-stream filter on the digital content event to generate anextracted digital sub-stream; operate a speech-to-text converter on theextracted digital sub-stream to generate a digital text sequence; andapply the digital text sequence to adapt the time-stamped set of rankingcontrols into adapted ranking controls.
 16. The computing apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to:the extracted digital sub-stream is a voice-over audio track for a videoanimation; and attenuate an effect of the digital text sequence on theadapted ranking controls to lower than an effect on the adapted rankingcontrols by a non-voice-over audio track.
 17. The computing apparatus ofclaim 13, the plurality of individually operable controls each operableto cause a video server to stream a different digital video to thedigital communication device.